Earlier, I blogged about two NMC employees being fired for viewing Dr. Sacara’s medical records without authorization. Dr. Sacara had been treated for Ebola at NMC.

Recently, a man in Texas was diagnosed with Ebola. This is different from Dr. Sacara, who was being treated at NMC for Ebola. In other words, NMC knew of Dr. Sacara’s condition. The Texas patient contacted Ebola in Liberia, traveled to the United States without any symptoms, fell ill, and visited an emergency room.

The emergency room actually released him from its care. It did this despite taking a travel history from the patient and learning he had recently been to Liberia, an Ebola hotspot.

Evidently, this travel history was not communicated to the decision-makers, as the Ebola-positive patient was released with a prescription for antibiotics. He returned to the greater community at large.